04/20/24
January 02, 2017
San Francisco 49ers Fire Chip Kelly After 1 Season: Following a loss to the Seattle Seahawks that ended their season at 2-14, the San Francisco 49ers have fired Chip Kelly one year after he got the job. GM Trent Baalke has also been fired. Kelly, once the hottest coaching prospect in the NFL because of his collegiate offensive wizardry at Oregon, has now been fired twice in 370 days -- two NFL teams are still paying off his contracts. This is only the second time since 1970 an NFL team has fired two coaches in a row after only one season. The first was San Francisco in 1976 (Monte Clark) and 1977 (Ken Meyer).
The noble Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men,
He marched them up to the top of the hill,
And marched them down again.
And when you're up, you're up,
And when you're down, you're down,
And when you're only half way up,
You're neither up nor down.
posted by beaverboard at 11:06 AM on January 02, 2017
The only good move the Niners have made under York is hiring Harbaugh. If both York and Baalke had either been fired or allowed Harbaugh the least bit of input on team direction and personnel decisions the Niners might still be a playoff team today. Over half of their roster either quit or is now playing elsewhere, many on playoff teams.
posted by cixelsyd at 12:46 PM on January 02, 2017
"I own this football team. You don't dismiss owners. I'm sorry that that's the fact and that's the case, but that's the fact." -- Jed York
Is this true? Wikipedia states that his parents are the owners and he's managing it for them, so he could be replaced.
posted by rcade at 02:22 PM on January 02, 2017
49ers have trended steadily downward after the Yorks took over full ownership of the team from DeBartolo.
Their new stadium deal has them netting over $150 Million per year. Somebody (fan, reporter?) ought to do an analysis of how much money is being left on the table through the complete incompetence of management.
posted by cixelsyd at 04:04 PM on January 02, 2017
Niners are leaving a few $10Ms on the table paying off coaching contracts at this point, everything else aside.
posted by billsaysthis at 04:39 PM on January 06, 2017
When I was a kid in the 1970s, the Niners seemed like one of the league's worst teams. I viewed them as an automatic win on the Cowboys schedule like the St. Louis Cardinals. Since this was my first experience as a fan, I had it cemented in my head that the natural order of things was for San Francisco to stink.
Then came 1981.